Sony has gone all-in on Tom Holland. The young star of Spider-Man: Homecoming will play the wall-crawling superhero for at least a few movies (where he will be shared by Sony and Marvel Studios), but he’s also joined another franchise: the long-gestating adaptation of the Uncharted video game series. Or rather, the film prequel to the Uncharted series, as Shawn Levy’s big screen version will follow the early days of protagonist Nathan Drake before he evolved into the experienced and cocksure adventurer and thief seen in the games.

But first, Holland will appear in next summer’s Avengers: Infinity War, where he will once again team up with the other superheroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact, he thinks one of his MCU co-stars should join the cast of Uncharted in the role of Sully, Nathan Drake’s mentor and partner-in-crime.

The long-gestating film adaptation of the Uncharted video game series is looking to claw its way out of development hell with a new leading man and, well, let’s just say that this leading man will come as a huge surprise to anyone who played Naughty Dog’s enormously popular games. Tom Holland, best known as the new Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War and the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming, has been cast as the globetrotting thief Nathan Drake.

Or rather, he’s been cast as a young version of Nathan Drake, as the studio has decided to rebuild the project from the ground up as a prequel set before the events of the games.

UPDATED: It seems that Joe Carnahan consulted with Amy Hennig (the head writer and creative director on the first three Uncharted games who is no longer with Naughty Dog) and Nolan North (the actor who plays Nathan Drake in the games) on the screenplay. Take from that what you will.

Do not panic, folks, @carnojoe consulted with both Amy Hennig and Nolan North. They were quite instrumental in the creation of Uncharted. https://t.co/p9ZFvDsQ2A

After years of wandering through the deserts of development hell, it’s starting to look like Sony’s Uncharted movie may become a reality. Shawn Levy is planning to direct, and Joe Carnahan has finished the screenplay, which he says will be R-rated and full of big, crazy action. However, there’s one group apparently not involved in the film at all: developer Naughty Dog, who oversaw the creation of the entire Uncharted video game series, has no idea what’s going on with the movie.

After years and years of stops and starts, the Uncharted movie finally took a big leap forward last month when Joe Carnahanannounced he’d finished his screenplay. The question now, then, is exactly what he turned in. After all, fans have been waiting forever to see this beloved property hit the big screen. Will Carnahan do the source material justice, or will Uncharted just become the latest victim to the video game curse?

Only time will tell, but in the meantime, it’s at least nice to hear that Carnahan is saying all the right things. In an interview, he described his Uncharted script as an R-rated affair with “four of the biggest, f***in’ craziest action sequences” of his career. Go on… Read More »

In Joe Carnahan‘s The Grey, a group of oil workers survive a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness and trek through the elements, dying one-by-one as they’re torn to pieces by wolves or simply lose the will to live. It’s a fine metaphor for Sony’s long-gestating adaptation of the Uncharted video game series, which has been in development since 2009 and has burned through more writers, directors, and release dates than I care to include in this sentence. So it’s only natural that Carnahan, whose movies often broken people battling impossible odds, would take over screenwriting duties. He knows a thing or two about winning a war of attrition.

But let’s press pause on that metaphor get to the real news here: Carnahan has apparently finished the Uncharted screenplay and he took to social media to celebrate.

Uncharted fans have some ideas for who they’d like to see play the video game series’ beloved hero, Nathan Drake. A fan once even approached David O. Russell (Three Kings), a multiple Academy Award nominee, to tell him who he thought should play the explorer and treasure hunter. Some fans have more restraint than that, and Uncharted‘s new director, Shawn Levy, is aware of who those fans want to see as Nathan Drake — but that’s not going to influence his decision, as it shouldn’t.

The long-gestating film adaptation of the popular (and for good reason) Uncharted video game series has been a revolving door of talent for years now. Cycle through the /Film archives and you’ll find writers and directors boarding and exiting the project with a frequency that boggles the mind. Despite its inherently cinematic premise, Uncharted has proven itself to be a tough nut to crack.

But maybe this is the point where things start to look up! Maybe this is the point in the timeline where Uncharted stops shuffling around development hell and starts to take shape! And if so, the timing couldn’t be better, because screenwriter Joe Carnahan is saying all of the right things about what he’s trying to do with his script.

After a long and rocky path through development, Sony’s long-gestating Uncharted movie is now taking a big leap forward. Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum) has just been set to direct the video game adaptation, replacing Seth Gordon (The King of Kong) who departed last year. Joe Carnahan wrote the latest draft of the script. Read More »

In the least surprising movie news you’ll read this week, Sony has removed the long-gestating film adaptation of the hugely popular Uncharted video game from their schedule. That June 30, 2017 release date has felt unlikely for some time, so this shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone, especially since new talent was just brought hired to beat this movie into shape a month ago.

Many brave souls have set out to make a film adaptation of the popular video game series Uncharted, and each of them has fallen by the wayside. To put it in terms that those who have played the games will understand, a number of writers and directors have tried to pillage this particular ancient city, only to be repelled by a bunch of irritating blue guys. Uncharted is already cinematic and character-driven in game form (it’s essentially a modern Indiana Jones riff!), but it’s been taking filmmakers out of the picture left and right.

The latest creative to bravely volunteer for Uncharted duty is Joe Carnahan, who has been brought on to write (but not direct) the project. Does anyone want to make a wager about if he’ll come out of the jungle alive?